


Safe

by Vera



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s02e22 Survival, Juvenilia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1998-01-01
Updated: 1998-01-01
Packaged: 2017-10-06 08:12:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vera/pseuds/Vera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's something Jim isn't telling Blair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Safe

It's as if I have six senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch - and Blair. It's not just that I hear him and smell him, it's more immediate than that. There is no intermediate stage, no act of hearing his voice and then recognition of it being his. He would explain it more easily, but I haven't told him about it. I don't want him to know, even though he'd be fascinated. Even though it probably means something significant for his dissertation. Even though I can imagine how he would take the news.

Surprise would widen his eyes, understanding would concentrate them, he would look at me the way he does when he's studying me intently and I would feel the pressure of his eyes, the warm breeze of his every thought flow around me. In short order the implications would hit him and his face would change through pleasure, delight, embarrassment, captivity and back to delight and embarrassment. He would say, "Man, this is fantastic. We've got to find out the extent of the phenomenon. We'll do some field tests today, in Cascade Mall. There'll be a lot of people to screen out there and a lot of environmental interference. We need to find out if it enhances or blocks your other senses, if you can apply this amalgam - no, synthesis - yeah, this synthesis to other people. Simon, maybe. Or your brother, now that you're getting to know him better. Gotta test the genetic bond."

But I'll never know him as well as I know you, Chief. I'll never be able to write Steven's dialogue for him, not even if we bond like Superglue. I hardly noticed it myself at first. From the day I met him he was in my face, everywhere and I felt so damn comfortable around him. It was as if we'd known each other forever. As if he was my younger brother, easy to tease, fun to be with, and me full of pride and the strongest wish to keep him from harm and never let him far from my side. It was a bit weird and I wanted to fight it, but it felt so good and so natural. The big empty space inside me turned out to be Sandburg-shaped.

It was as easy to let him in to my house, home after he moved in, as it was to let him into the rest of my life. I figured that all the Blair sensing was because we were in the same space. Naturally I'd smell it all, and hear it and wake up with the ghostly taste of it in my mouth. That's what minty toothpaste is for, after all.

I realized it was different the day we caught Quinn. At the time, when he barreled into me, hysterical and terrified, I was operating on automatic. Just doing my job: calm the civilians, find the perpetrators, rescue the hostages, minimize the casualties, save the damn day. I know where my cape is kept.   
Afterwards, in bed tonight, I closed my eyes and let my fear and tension wash away. Yeah, practice does help, but not as much as you might think. I worked through everything that happened, wrapped it up and put it away. It was lucky for Quinn that Simon was safe or...but I had to let that go.

Then, as I was lying there, in the blackness that was no longer black, I remembered it. The storm of Blair rushing at me through the forest. Heat and thunder and madness, he surged up against me and I caught him and rode his damn wave. He stilled between my hands and I could remember the warmth in my arms and the thumping where his chest touched mine and the pleasure of his safety.

I'll keep you safe, Chief.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted in the zine [Missing Links 2](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Missing_Links)


End file.
